Influenza virus infects 5-20% of the population and results in 30,000-50,000 deaths each year in the U.S. Although the Influenza vaccine is the primary method of infection prevention, four antiviral drugs are also available in the U.S.: amantadine, rimantadine, oseltamivir and zanamivir.
Disease caused by Influenza A viral infections is typified by its cyclical nature. Antigenic drift and shift allow for different A strains to emerge every year. Added to that, the threat of highly pathogenic strains entering into the general population has stressed the need for novel therapies for flu infections. The predominant fraction of neutralizing antibodies is directed to the polymorphic regions Influenza virus-specific proteins. Thus, such a neutralizing monoclonal antibody (MAb) would presumably target only one or a few strains.
Therefore, a long-felt need exists in the art for new antibodies that bind to an invariant Influenza protein, or domain thereof, and which neutralize a large number of Influenza strains.